Forgive me if the following is a re-post, I searched for it in the forums here and didn't see it tho.....

Have any of you'uns checked out this big ol' huge awesome incredible Tupolev TU-114 from Samdim design group and available as a freeware download at Avsim??

This thing is just flat wicked. Big ol' gorgeous plane, as you'll recognize it from Tu-95 "Bear" heritage. Has a full, expansive VC that you could ramble around in for days, tons of Russian-language avionics, buttons, switches, little lighted-dealybobs and things that make noise, wicked-cool counter-rotating turboprop blades, great sounds, a full-blown HTML documentation package and apprently, was the winner of the Avsim Bravo Zulu Award 2005 for Best Freeware Aircraft package. After tooling around in it I don't doubt it one bit!

You can go check it out at the linkbelow, the download links are attached to the Avsim library so although it's a large package it's fairly quick to fetch:

WoW, howd you land that at the sty? I think there is a TU-24? out there too. How is your russian?

Dep Dale

Heh! To be honest, on my trial flight I only took off from the Sty, and to succesfully do that, I had to back the plane up quite a ways to get enough room for a takeoff run. The driver of the Molsons JG300 Private Reserve truck didn't like having the road temporarily shut down on him, but too bad - he should be used to unusual goings-on by now and he got to witness an awesome takeoff.

I've made two landing attempts at the Sty, one with default payload and one with no payload except myself and 10% fuel after reading Ascout's tip - so far, I've had to jump from the cockpit to keep from going into the trees and the drink with the rest of the plane! Could be a GREAT aircraft for a Sunday flight, but the runways better be bigger than what we got!

It's amazing what you can land at the Sty if you take an appropriate fuel load, I've also found. Heck, I landed an F-14 at "Mountain Lake" on 2/3rds of the runway....without cheating!

That front landing gear looks downright spooky!

Well, I am happy to report this CAN be done, albeit with a very light fuel load (10%) and only one 230-pound pig aboard so far!

It's not pretty tho, and certainly not what the Tupolev design bureau had in mind...well what they don't see won't hurt 'em. That scary-lookin nosegear definitely ends up taking the brunt of the abuse!

Approach was with everything down and dirty in the wind - full flaps, there is no spoiler on this aircraft. I wouldhave liked a shallower approach but theres them trees in the way. The book says to bring it in at around 140-145 knots, I had it down to about 125 but had to bobble up and down a bit to make sure I missed that last tree, so in the final moments my speed rose to about 137 or so.

The book also says NOT to touch the brakes until about 85 knots or so (mabe I was blowing them out earlier - time for a brake pad upgrade on this thing!) so I had the thrust reverser key (F2) mashed even before I touched down.

There's one last trick needed tho: once on the runway I had to bleed off all the energy I could by skidding the nosewheel side to side in order to slide down the runway in serpentine fashion. Otherwise this mama still goes right into the drink, so like I said, it ain't pretty!!!

Thanks chief! Yep, I did upgrade to the latest version of the Sty, I know I did. I'll check it again. I've been meaning to ask how I can tell the diff (checked the readme), I had thought there would be an ATC pig but wasn't sure- and since I already had the prototye new tower windows, it's even harder to tell.

I have my tower view set up as perfectly as possible from the center of the tower - so screenies taken from that position should contan a full moon!

Will go diddle with it and see wassup......

_________________"Once your reputation is ruined, you can live quite freely."

Thanks chief! Yep, I did upgrade to the latest version of the Sty, I know I did. I'll check it again. I've been meaning to ask how I can tell the diff (checked the readme), I had thought there would be an ATC pig but wasn't sure- and since I already had the prototye new tower windows, it's even harder to tell.

I have my tower view set up as perfectly as possible from the center of the tower - so screenies taken from that position should contan a full moon!

Will go diddle with it and see wassup......

I don't think the readme notes any difference. The original "Pig Sty" was posted here, then replaced with a note from the landlord....guess you missed the memo.
Only the 'new, improved, now with platformate" version is up there now, so just get it and replace the folder you have (and where you have it, so FS9 can "find" it)...no need for a full install, methinks, as the name didn't even change....

I have tried flying this sim aircraft out of the new Hong Kong airport in to the [ I have the payware custom sceenry of Kai Tak ] (old and abandoned ) Kai Tak [ obviously with only a positioning fuel load ], fresh underpants please but I got her down in one piece and I don't think any passengers had heart attacks which no doubt is more a tribute to the aircraft's designers than my flying skills! For freeware this aircraft is beyond spectular and I would call it one of the best sims around and that includes payware products!

Ctrl+Shift+Enter to move right, Shift+Backspace to move down, Ctrl+Backspace to move forward. Revers the Enter and Backspace keys to move in the opposite directions. The civilian versions have a fully rendered virtual cabin as well.